Just in time for the start of high school football season, sports aficionados soon will be seeing a new sports editor for the Llano News around the fields.

Andrew Salmi, who is from Southern California, recently made the big move from Oklahoma, where he covered sports for several newspapers.

Salmi also will be the sports editor for sister papers in San Saba and Mason.

He might be new to Llano, but he’s no greenhorn when it comes to sports.

“My family and pretty much any of my friends would tell you that I live and breathe sports,” Salmi said. “Even back to early childhood, I’ve followed the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB and college sports.”

He played multiple sports into high school, taking pride in being a student-athlete.

Salmi said journalism was not his first career choice; he tried civil engineering first.

“I really tried to make it work, but I was simply in over my head. I was stuck at a plateau with that level of mathematics and science,” he said.

He returned home to California and earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal State Fullerton.

“I’ve been on a rollercoaster of a path to get to where I am, but I couldn’t be happier that I get to cover sports for a living,” Salmi said. “If I had to pick one favorite sport to report on, I’d definitely have to go with football.”

But it was at a basketball game that he had an experience that he’ll never forget and always will cherish.

Salmi was working as a sports news intern with the ABC News Los Angeles affiliate, covering an NBA game between the Lakers and Spurs in 2016.

He got to see his idol, Kobe Bryant, in action on the court.

“Kobe suffered a nasty middle finger dislocation in the fourth quarter but he didn’t miss any game time; he just had it popped right back into place during a timeout and immediately went on the court and made a jump shot like it didn’t even phase him whatsoever. He was the epitome of a tough player.”

He also got to see Bryant in action after the game, when the star player was being interviewed by members of the news media.

“When Kobe sat down at the podium, I was a bit star-struck to be in the press room with my idol.”

Bryant now had his middle finger taped up. Someone asked how the injury was doing.

“He started to smirk and then promptly said, ‘You know, I think this will be the only time I can sit up here at a press conference like this and not get fined,’ as he flipped off the entire room of reporters and television crews,” Salmi said. “That was one of the funniest things I’ve ever been a part of.”

When Bryant, his teenage daughter and seven other people perished in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, Salmi and many others took the news to heart.

“It was tragic and devastating; but the great times and what he meant to the city of Los Angeles on and off the court are what I will remember him by the most.”